Electrical collector for conductor rails



g- 1970 A. c. HOWELL, JR

ELECTRICAL COLLECTOR FOR CONDUCTOR RAILS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed llay 14, 1968 fllle vne CZ git $2 Jr I BY IGE/ T 5, 1970 A. c. HOWELL, JR 3,525,823

ELECTRICAL COLLECTOR FOR CONDUCTOR RAILS Filed May 14, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 k I I I: I I

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on 3 2 BY 9 $58 so 94 as 80 465N7- g- 1970 A. c. HOWELL, JR' 3,525,823

ELECTRICAL COLLECTOR FOR CONDUCTOR RAILS Filed May 14, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet :5

INVENTOR. Alley/1e C Howell J1 United States Patent 3,525,823 ELECTRICAL COLLlfigli ggl FOR CONDUCTOR Alleyne C. Howell, J12, Fairfield, Conn. Howell Corporation, 470 Surf Ave., Stratford, Conn. 06497) lFiled May 14, 1968, Ser. No. 728,964 Int. Cl. B611 /40 US. Cl. 191-591 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS Copending application entitled Conductor Bars for Trolley Systems, Ser. No. 698,793, filed Jan. 18, 1968 in the name of Alleyne C. Howell, Jr.

PRIOR ART OF INTEREST US. Pat. Nos. 457,105; 490,297; 532,796; 2,304,- 720; 2,422,132; 2,835,752; 3,144,508 and 3,303,293.

BACKGROUND This invention relates to electrical collectors or current-collecting heads as used with conductor bars or rails employed with monorail systems of hoists, cranes and the like.

A prior collector consisted of a U-shaped spring-urged carrier member having a pair of spaced studs loosely received in spaced, aligned slots of a holder member to which the collector shoe was affixed. This arrangement permitted some freedom of movement of the shoe, but had drawbacks in that loss of contact and arcing could occur if the trolley or truck gyrated or twisted, as when traversing a curve, switch or interlock, or an irregularity of the track. Also, the shoe could not readily and freely yield under all-conditions, whereby slight obstructions on the bars or tracks would result in objectional bounce of the collector, loss of contact, arcing, and even detracking of the shoe.

Other prior collectors have a swivel or pivotal connection between the carrier and the shoe holder, or else a socket connection which may include a ball. These also failed at times. For example, the collector with the pivotal connection could turn 90 and lose contact with the bar it it hit a bump while travelling. The socket-connected collector could swing and, acting like a hook, rip the insulated covering from the bar or rail. Trouble was experienced especially at interlocks, switches or joints such as exist at power-feed fittings where gaps occur between two sections of conductor bar.

SUMMARY The above disadvantages and drawbacks of prior collectors are obviated by the present invention, and one object is to provide a novel and improved electrical collector wherein the shoe has a closely controlled, limited tilting and an arcuate action about a front center point, enabling the shoe to effectively traverse gaps between the bars, unevenness and bumps, and to Withstand tilting and turning of the trolley or truck, all without losing contact 3,525,823 Patented Aug. 25, 1970 with the bars or arcing such as characterized prior collectors. This is accomplished by the provision of an assemblage of pivoted, spring-urged carrier member and shoeholder member movably mounted thereon, one member having a pair of spaced mounting studs and the other having a pair of angular disposed slots loosely receiving the studs whereby the holder is held captive on the carrier. The slots are angularly disposed with respect to each other, and also substantially symmetrically and angularly disposed with respect to the contacting-edge of the shoe, all in a manner that the center of an arcuate movement of which the holder and shoe are capable lies in front of, and spaced from said contacting edge. The looseness of the fit between the studs and slots also enables limited tilting of the holder and shoe to occur. With the above structure, the shoe can faithfully follow and remain in contact with the conductor bars despite joints, gaps, slight misalignments, and gyrations or erratic movements of the truck or trolley.

Other objects and advantages of the invention reside in an improved collector assemblage as above set forth, which is capable of a variety of adjustments and alterna tive arrangements, thereby to readily adapt it to dimensional variations and differing characteristics of particular installations; an improved collector assemblage as characterized, which is simple in construction, economical to fabricate, rugged and sturdy whereby there is had great reliability of operation with a minimum of servicing; and a collector assemblage which does not involve criti cal tolerances or dimensions, enabling it to be installed and placed in operation by semi-skilled personnel.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a section of monorail track with a trolley and hoist carried thereby, illustrating in elevation the improved collector assemblage as provided by the invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a back elevational view of one of the collector assemblages and a portion of the trolley associated therewith.

FIG. 4 is an edge elevational view of the collector assemblage and trolley portion of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the collector assemblage.

FIG. 6 is an inside plan view of a holder half of the collector assemblage.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic representation of the present collector approaching an interlock or gap in the conductor bar.

FIG. 8 is a view like that of FIG. 7, but with the collector swung partially into the gap. 7

FIG. 9 is a similar view, but with the collector straddling the gap.

FIG. 10 is a similar view also, but showing the collector leaving the gap.

Referring first to FIG. 1 there is illustrated a trolley or truck assemblage 10 carried by a monorail 12 and supporting a hoist 14. The monorail 12 is in the form of a composite I-beam structure 16 carried by overhead supports 18. On opposite sides of the upper portion of the I- beam 16 are conductor rail or bar assemblages 20, shown as being secured to the I-beam track 16 by supporting clamps or brackets 22.

The trolley 10 comprises a pair of U-shaped spaced truck members 24 which mount wheels 26 riding on the lower flange portion 28 of the rail 12. Extending between the trucks 24 is a load bar 30 under which the hoist 14 is supported, said load bar having end portions 32 provided with sockets in their undersides to accommodate bulbous projections 34 on the members 24 by which the load bar is swivel-mounted to permit rocking of the bar ice and hoist 14 and limited swivelling of the truck members 24 as may be required by curved sections of the monorail 12, offset disposition of the load handled by the hoist 14, etc.

For the purpose of bringing electrical power to the hoist 14, collector assemblages designated generally by the numerals 36, 38 are carried by the trolley at opposite sides of the rail 16 to engage the bar assemblages 20. The assemblages 20 may be formed in any suitable manner. Details of one preferred arrangement are given in my copending application, Ser. No. 698,793, filed Jan. 18, 1968 and entitled Conductor Bars for Trolley Systems. Complete details of such conductor bar assemblages are accordingly not given herein, except that in FIG. 4 there is shown a single conductor bar constituted of a formed metal strip 40 having a groove 42 in which there is accommodated the conducting shoe 44 of a collector head 46 of the collector assemblage 38. The conductor bar 40 is encased in an insulating jacket member 48 by which there is prevented accidental contact with the bar by operating personnel, etc.

At intervals the conductor bar assemblage 20 has gaps, switches, interlocks or joints where the individual bar sections terminate and are joined or meet other bar sections. Such a joint or power feed is indicated at 50 in FIG. 1, and a gap in the bar assemblage is indicated at 52.

The present invention provides improvements in the collector assemblages 36, 38 by which there is had a more reliable and effective contact between the conducting shoes 44 of the collectors and the conducting bars 40 of the assemblages 20. By virtue of the improved collector construction a substantially continuous contact is maintained regardless of gaps, switches, joints, misalignments, bumps and the like which may exist in the conductor bar assemblages and despite gyrations, tilting and other nonuniform movements of the trolley 10. The collectors 36, 38 are identical to each other, and accordingly only one will be described herein in detail. As shown, the improved collector 38 comprises an electrically conducting shoe 44 constituted as a flat plate having an elongate contacting edge portion 54 and an oppositely disposed apertured lug or protuberant portion 56 to which a standard compression terminal 58 is secured. The terminal 58 is joined to a wire 60 leading to the hoist motor.

The plate or shoe 44 is clamped between two identical molded plastic halves 62 of a holder 64, said halves being secured together by bolts 66. One of the molded halves 62 of the holder 64 is illustrated in FIG. 6. At its inside, the molded half 62 has a pair of grooves 68 meeting with a deeper transverse groove 70 for accommodating the collector shoe 44 and the terminal 58 and terminal bolt 72. As seen in FIG. 6, each molded half 62 of the holder member 64 has raised portions or lands 74 engaging each other when the halves 62 are bolted together to clamp the shoe 44.

By this invention, the holder 64 is mounted on a U- shaped carrier designated generally by the numeral 76 in such a manner that it can have unique and advantageous arcuate movements and also tilting movements between limits, thereby to enable contact to be reliably maintained between the shoe 44 and the conducting bar assemblage despite slight misalignment of the bar sections, gaps therein, switches, interlocks, power feed joints or other irregularities, and despite tilting or gyrations of the trolley 10. The U-shaped carrier member 76 comprises a yoke portion or cross member 78 of U-shaped cross section (that is, formed as a channel) and side arms in the form of flat strips 80 to which the yoke 78 is adjustably secured, the arms 80 being carried by a swivel spindle or rod 82 passing through a side portion of a truck member 24. The lower portions of the arms 80 have curled ends 84 to accommodate the rod 82, the latter carrying spacer sleeves 86 to centralize the carrier 76 on the mem ber 24. Wire springs 88 carried by the sleeves 86 of the rod 82 engage the side arms 80 of the carrier 76 and yieldably urge the carrier in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 4, thereby to maintain the collector shoe 44 engaged with the current bar assemblage 20. Adjustable wedges 90 engageable with the truck member 24 and with a yoke portion 92 of the spring 88 enable the spring tension to be regulated as required by particular conditions of an installation.

The cross bar or yoke 78 of the carrier 76 has a pair of upstanding, spaced-apart studs 94 which pass through and are bolted to the cross bar, using nylon sleeves 96 engaged with lock nuts 98 at the upper ends of the studs 94. The holder member 64 comprising the halves 62 has a pair of slots 100 which loosely receive the studs 94, said slots being angularly disposed with respect to each other and also angularly and substantially symmetrically disposed with respect to the contacting edge portion 54 of the conducting shoe 44, all as clearly seen in FIG. 5. By such organization the shoe 44 and holder 64 are enabled to have limited arcuate movement about a center 102 which is located in front of and spaced from the face of the contacting edge portion 54 of the shoe. By virtue of such limited arcuate and tilting movement about the forwardly located center 102, made possible by the angular disposition of the slots 10 and the loose fit with the studs 94 I have found that the collector head 46 and more particularly the conductor shoe 44 thereof will be able to traverse gaps, joints, bumps and slight misalignments of the conducting bar assemblages without breaking contact and opening the electrical circuit. Accordingly, there is had a more effective and satisfactory operation of the hoist or other equipment carried by the trolley 10, as well as a reduction in arcing, pitting and the like at the conducting bars.

While the collector head 46 illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 is shown as squared with the U-shaped carrier 76, it will be understood that a certain amount of tilting of such collector head is possible, and also that the collector head may have an arcuate movement about the center point 102, considering the showing of FIG. 5. Here, the holder 64 can be shifted arcuately, either clockwise or counterclockwise whereby the upstanding studs 94 will occupy left or right end portions respectively of the grooves 100, as may now be readily understood. With such construction, great latitude is had with respect to movements of the trolley without losing contact between the collector shoe 44 and the current-conducting bar assemblages.

Considering FIG. 5, the leading and trailing edges 104, 106 of the shoe 44 are cam-like, being sloped at an angle. Also, a depression or relief 108 is provided in the shoe, resulting in two spaced apart, aligned contacting edges 54 adapted for engagement with the conductor bar. By such shaping of the shoe 44 it is able to traverse gaps, bumps, slight misalignment, etc. of the bar assemblage without losing contact therewith, which latter circumstance causes arcing, pitting and the like as well as interrupted power to the hoist.

The way in which the improved collector head mounting of the invention enables the contact shoe to traverse gaps in the conductor bars without breaking contact is illustrated in FIGS. 7-10. As the leading edge of the shoe enters the gap, FIG. 8, the angular portion thereof cams the shoe out again, as seen in FIG. 8. This action is made possible by the unique arcuate movement and angle-slot mounting where the center is disposed forwardly of the contacting edge of the shoe.

The cross member 78 of channel-section is provided with slots 110 in which the side arms 80 are accommodated, such construction enabling the cross bar to be slid upward or downward on the side arms, as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4. A single through bolt 112 engages the outer or remote edges of the side arms 80 to securely fasten the cross bar 78 after it has been placed in the desired adjusted position.

It will be seen from FIG. 5 that the slots 110 which accommodate the arms 80 are offset with respect to the studs 94. Accordingly, this may be utilized to obtain different positions of the studs, since the cross member 78 may be reversed on the cross arms 80 by placing its upper side down, and its lower side up. For this arrangement the studs 94 will be reversed on the cross bar, whereby a simple adjustability of the carrier is had, to enable it to be fitted most readily to particular situations. Likewise, the side arms 80 may be placed in reversed positions on the swivel rod 92, as indicated by the reverse location of a curled end 84a shown dotted in FIG. 4. Considerable flexibility is thus had when setting up the equipment initially, as regards the proper placement and fitting of the collector assemblage.

It will now be understood from the foregoing that I have provided a novel and improved collector organization for monorail systems involving trolleys which travel on wheels along a monorail, whereby there is maintained an effective and efficient contact between the collector shoes and the conducting bars that are responsible for carrying current to the power unit of the equipment. The organization is seen to be simple and sturdy in construction, whereby it will perform satisfactorily over an extended period of time with a minimum of servicing being required.

Variations and modifications are possible, and portions of the improvement may be used without others.

I claim:

1. A collector comprising, in combination:

(a) an electrically conducting shoe having an elongate contacting edge portion,

(b) a holder member to which the shoe is attached,

(c) a carrier member on which the holder is mounted,

wherein the improvement comprises:

(d) means mounting the shoe and holder member on the carrier member for pivotal movement about a center located in front of and spaced from the face of the contacting edge portion of the shoe, said means comprising:

(e) one of said members having a pair of spaced studs,

(f) said other member having a pair of spaced slots in which the studs are loosely received,

(g) said slots being angularly disposed with respect to each other, and angularly nad substantially symmetrically disposed with respect to the contacting edge portion of the conducting shoe whereby the shoe and holder member are enabled to have limited arcuate movement about said center located in front of and spaced from the face of said contacting edge portion.

2. A collector as in claim 1, wherein:

(a) the studs are afiixed to the carrier member,

(b) said holder member constituting the other member and having said slots.

3. A collector as in claim 1, and further including:

(a) plastic sleeves on said studs,

(b) said holder member being constituted of plastic substance.

4. A collector as in claim 1, wherein:

(a) the shoe comprises a fiat conducting plate,

(b) said holder member comprising a pair of superposed identical halves constituted as fiat clamping plates clamping the conducting plate between them, said clamping plates being disposed broadside to each other and having recesses in their inner sides, in which the shoe plate is located,

(c) each one of said identical halves having openings aligned with openings of the other one,

(d) said aligned openings constituting the said angularly disposed slots.

5. A collector comprising, in combination:

(a) an electrically conducting shoe having an elongate contacting edge portion,

(b) a holder member to which the shoe is attached,

(0) a carrier member on which the holder is mounted,

(d) one of said members having a pair of spaced studs,

(e) said other member having a pair of spaced slots in which the studs are loosely received, wherein the improvement comprises:

(f) said slots being angularly disposed with respect to each other, and angularly and substantially symmetrically disposed with respect to the contacting edge portion of the conducting shoe whereby the shoe and bolder member are enabled to have limited arcuate movement about a center which is located in front of and spaced from the face of said contacting edge portion,

(g) said carrier member comprising a U-frame,

(h) said U-frame having side members constituted as flat strips, and having a cross member on which the holder member is mounted, said cross member being constituted as a U-section channel,

(i) end portions of the cross member having aligned slots in which the flat strips are disposed whereby the cross member is slidable alongsaid strips, and

(3') means including a screw for securing the cross member in adjusted position on the strips.

6. A collector as in claim 5, wherein:

(a) the flat strips have curled ends to receive a pivot spindle,

(b) said strips being reversible in the slots of the cross member to change the positioning of the curled ends whereby the cross member can be differently positioned with respect to the pivot spindle.

7. A collector as in claim 5, wherein:

(a) the cross member of the carrier mounts the said studs,

(b) the slots of the cross member being out of alignment with the studs,

(c) said cross member being reversible on the fiat strips whereby the studs can be diiferently positioned with respect to said strips.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,891,205 11/1932 McKenzie 191--59.1 2,537,866 1/1951 Tanner. 2,864,908 12/1958 Drummey l9l--59.l 3,303,294 2/1967 Howell 19159.1 X 3,405,240 10/1968 Kilburg 19l--59.1

ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner G. H. LIBMAN, Assistant Examiner 

